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| Image Credit: The World Without Us |
Our current population is above 8 billion. Can you imagine what would happen if this many humans suddenly disappeared from the face of the Earth? We are going to find out the same in this article.
As soon as the humans disappear from Earth, chaos will ensue. All the moving objects which needed to be controlled by humans in real-time such as planes, trains and cars, would collide or derail.
Another sure thing that would happen is a worldwide blackout because the majority of the power stations on Earth operate on fossil fuels, and if there would be no one to control them, they would shut down. Plants generating electricity from natural resources like wind and water powered systems would function for few hours but they would also shut down without human supervision.
Also the things being controlled by machines or computers would stop functioning within an hours or two because of mass blackouts happening all over the globe.
Computers might delay nuclear disaster for few days by shutting down nuclear reactors. However, they could not stop it from happening. There would be planetwide blackout, but nuclear crises would at least be temporarily averted.
However, within few days, due to lack of human supervision, security measures in oil refineries and nuclear plants would go unchecked and result in massive fires and nuclear explosions. This would release heavy toxic radiation across the globe. Wildlife in affected regions would die because of the radiation poisoning.
All pet and zoo animals would have to break free otherwise they would suffer starvation and die of hunger and malnutrition. These animals along with wild animals would roam on the streets. We have already seen a glimpse of this when the COVID-19 pandemic kept people inside, and we saw wild animals roaming in urban environments.
Major impact would be in the cities as immediate changes would unfold there because of lack of human maintenance. As there would be no human to run the motor pumps that divert water from the tunnels, the underground metros and subways would flood within hours.
Water running underground in pipelines and sewers would corrode the metal structures that hold up the buildings, streets and bridges, and they would collapse. This would transform the streets into mid-city rivers. Collapsed buildings, bridges, cracked pavements and roads would provide space for seeds to take root and develop into trees. Vegetation would grow all over the cities. Moss would overtake the streets, while trees and flowers would cover abandoned buildings. Within few years, the cities as we know today would become natural theme parks.
All this change would result in swift recovery of insects, as there would not be any human to use pesticides and other chemicals on these greeneries. This would result in a chain effect on environment and wildlife as the recovery of the insects would positively affect the birds and plants and they would do much better. It would further result in better surrounding habitats, plant communities, soils, waterways and oceans. That would encourage wildlife to move in and take up residence. The Earth would eventually become lusher and more biodiverse.
Though the environment would improve, the one thing that is going to remain for a very long time, is the effects of climate change, humanity's most indelible impact on the planet. Global warming would continue to rise for coming years even after the humans are gone, the mercury would rise about another degree Celsius.
Within next 30 years, the satellites orbiting the earth would fall back to Earth with no one to control them. Within 60 years, marine life would be thriving in its full potential because of no fishing. Within 150 years, the Earth's demographics would be restored to its natural status before human time. Within 230 years, the growth of nature would eliminate the excess Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. By this time, all the famous landmarks would have decayed, and the only manmade evidence would be leftover steel and plastics.
Within 25,000 years, the nature would be able to erase most of the traces of human existence. The earth would return to its natural state and belong to wildlife.
So, this is what would happen if we suddenly disappeared from the face of the Earth. One thing that highlights is that Earth would be a better place to live if humans disappear. This indicates how careless we are and take nature for granted and destroy it for our profit. Can't we make the Earth a better place for our upcoming generations.
What do you think? Please share your thoughts in comment section.
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